HANUKKAH BEGINS!

Dear Parents,

We began our holiday unit by learning about Hanukkah, Christmas, and Krampus.  If you celebrate a different holiday please let us know, so we can celebrate your holiday as well.

We had lots of fun this week preparing for our holidays.  This week our focus was on Hanukkah (the festival of lights) which lasts for eight days. We celebrated the holiday in our class by playing the dreidel game, which is one of the Hanukkah traditions, and made edible dreidels.  Mmm, were they delicious!  We also read Hanukkah books and taught the children the Story of Hanukkah.

On Friday, we celebrated Krampus, a European holiday.  The children put their shoes in the hallway, and if they were good St. Nick would put candy in their shoes.  If they were not well behaved, Krampus would put rocks in them.  Of course, all of our children received candy.







We finished our week off by making 3-D dreidels. The children also made Christmas and Hanukkah ornaments such as stars, dreidels, Christmas trees, and bells.

In music this week we sang "O Hanukkah, O Hanukkah," and "Jingle Bells."  The children went "ice skating" to the "Skater's Waltz, using paper plates on their feet.  They also are learned to name the parts of a violin.   Finally, they rang bells and danced to  "Sleigh Ride."

Note:
Our Holiday Party will be on Wednesday, December 23rd.  More information to follow.

Love,
Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Dear Parents,

The children had a great week learning about the customs and traditions of the native Americans!  They learned how the native Americans used pottery to hold water, store grains and preserve seeds for the next planting season.  They then created their own pottery by rolling clay into a snake and then shaping it into a coiled pot.  

 













We ended our week by having a fabulous concert and thanksgiving feast.  We hope you had a good time at our thanksgiving celebration.  The children worked so hard preparing for this day.  They did an exceptional job singing at the concert.  They looked absolutely adorable in their pilgrim costumes.  I am sure you will all agree!

Thank you so much for all the food you contributed to the feast.  Everything was absolutely delicious!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara

PREPARING FOR THANKSGIVING

Dear Parents,

We continued our Thanksgiving unit by talking about what we are thankful for.  This is what your children said:
Micah:  My mom and dad
Noah: Cookies
Ritsu: Apples
Aiden: Turkey
Adam: Chicken
Sandhya: My baby
Sarang: My mom
Maddox: Chairs
Daniel: Pumpkins
Hugo: My brother
Barbara: Her wonderful children
Bonne:  Our wonderful class!

We made an adorable turkey bulletin board by cutting and decorating feathers and writing on them what we are thankful for.

In addition, we turned our classroom into a campfire.  We sat around the "fire" and toasted marshmallows. We also turned off the lights, used flashlights, and sang campfire songs.  

 We concluded the week by making leaf and pumpkin shaped cookies.  They were so delicious!

Please remember to sign up to bring a dish for our International Feast on Wednesday. You don't need to bring lunch for your child on that day, since school will end right after the feast.

Love,

Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara

All About Thanksgiving

Dear Parents,

We started our unit on Thanksgiving.  We introduced the unit by reading several books about Thanksgiving.  Some of our favorites books were:  The Story of the Pilgrims, by Katherine Ross and
What is Thanksgiving?,by Margot Parker. We then had a great discussion about the meaning of Thanksgiving.  We learned that we celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday in November by having a feast.  We came up with a list of traditional foods we eat on Thanksgivings such as: turkey, rice, squash, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie.  Next week we will talk  about what we are thankful for.

The children were surprised when they discovered that Native Americans did not have stoves but cooked their meals outside on a fire. They were also surprised when they found out that they didn't have supermarkets back then.  The Native Americans hunted and fished for their food and bathed and washed in the river.  
                  
The children created fantastic tepee villages.  First, we painted a brown base and then added a fire pit.  The children  glued stones around a circle and then added  orange and red tissue paper in the center, for the flames.  Then they created a lake, by painting it with corn syrup and food coloring and adding  fish stickers to it.

Also, they painted colorful tepees and added straws to the the top (representing branches).  Finally, the children made Native Americans out of terra cotta clay.

Other fun areas in the classroom and playground:

                                                                                                                            

 The children made adorable Pilgrim hats to wear on the day of our Thanksgiving feast.

We celebrated Klaudia's 4th birthday this week .  Thank you to her family for all the delicious treats!

                   Happy Birthday Klaudia!



















Notes: 
A sign up sheet is posted in our classroom for the International Thanksgiving Feast. Please sign up for one of your family's favorite traditional foods (no meat, of course).

Please send your child to school with gloves and hats.  It is getting cold out in the playground!

Love, 
Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara